Banerjee moves SC again, against new HC Judge's punitive order HC refuses to recall Justice Gangopadhyay's order for CBI, ED probe

NEW DELHI: Diamond Harbour MP and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Calcutta HC order, which dismissed his application for recall its order directing CBI and ED to probe his alleged role in the teachers recruitment scam case and imposed Rs 25 lakh 'punitive cost' for allegedly attempting to stall the ongoing investigations.
A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol accepted senior advocate A M Singhvi's request on behalf of Banerjee for an urgent hearing and posted the matter for hearing on May 26. On a petition by Banerjee, the SC on April 28 had directed shifting of the case from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay for giving an interview relating to Banerjee while hearing the case and asked the HC acting CJ to re-assign the case to another Judge who would take up all applications moved by Banerjee.
The case was reassigned to Justice Amrita Sinha, who in a hard-hitting 23-page order on May 18 on an application moved by Banerjee, had rejected the TMC leader's application and imposed a cost of Rs 25 lakh, with a direction that the money be utilised by HC Legal Services Authority.
Banerjee said that the inherent bias on the part of Justice Gangopadhyay, as reflected in the passing of the April 13 order, was taken note by the SC before directing shifting of the case from Justice Gangopadhyay to another Judge. This reason alone was good enough for recall of the order directing the CBI and ED investigation against Banerjee, without there being any material whatsoever to link him to the scam except for a public speech that had formed the basis of the April 13 order, Singhvi said.
However, Justice Sinha on May 18, while rejecting banerjee's two applications - one seeking to be a party in the pending proceedings and the other for recall of the April 13 order, had said, "there were overwhelming evidences before the Court which prompted Justice Gangopadhyay to pass necessary direction in the order complained of."
Justice Sinha had said, "The figures of the scam as unearthed till date make it crystal clear that several high level, influential politically exposed persons are involved in the crime. Scams of such enormous scale involving crores and crores of money could not have been possible without the tutelage and blessings of the persons in power. The proceeds of crime have penetrated through several strata and have exchanged numerous hands. In such types of cases it is not unusual that threats and challenges will be there in practically each and every step. It is for the investigating officers to overcome the hurdle and unravel the truth to punish the offenders."
On the summons issued by the investigating agencies to Banerjee, the nea Judge said, "The powers of the investigating officers to summon are not restricted to any particular person and the said power to investigate is to be utilized effectively to reach the goal. The investigating officers will be failing in their duties if they recede from the investigation process out of fear or otherwise; which in turn will give an impetus to the persons involved in the crime."
"Banerjee being in the top rung of the ruling political party ought not to shy away from the investigation process. On the contrary, the applicants and particularly Banerjee are trying tooth and nail to oppose such an investigation. The proper approach would be to put oneself to the test and come out clean instead of avoiding or running away from the entire process. The State machinery, especially the police, also appear to back the accused. The hyper activism of the Superintendent of the Presidency Correctional Home is also worth noticing. The lightning speed in which the Superintendent acted on receipt of the complaint of KG is clear proof of his faithfulness to the State," Justice Sinha had said casting doubts over the alleged attempts to stall investigation by the accused and even the state.
"The act of the applicants in pressing the instant applications raises doubt in the mind of the Court that the same have been filed with mala fide intention to deter the investigating officers to follow through the process of investigation which has already opened up a box of worms with more to follow suit. The idea is to delay the entire process to the extent possible so that the real culprits can remain shielded. In fact, on account of filing the applications neither the ED nor the CBI appear to have proceeded any further," she had said